User blog:Reaper with no name/Raleigh and Mako's Relationship
There are some who aren't certain as to the nature of Raleigh and Mako's relationship. I would assert that it is, in fact, intended to be a romantic relationship. There are simply too many hints and sexual symbolism for it to be a sibling connection. To begin with, let's start with Mako's first scene. Like any character's first scene, it is important because it gives us our first impressions of the character; the foundation on which all subsequent development will be built (much like how Raleigh's first scene shows him to be enthusiastic about fighting the Kaiju, only for that enthusiasm to subsequently come crashing down in the fight against Knifehead). And what is the first thing Mako says? "I imagined him differently". Of course, this doesn't tell us whether she is impressed or disappointed. However, in a later conversation Mako tells Raleigh she doesn't believe he is the right man for the mission. This suggests that her opinion of him before their meeting was rather low. Therefore, the best way to interpret her first line is as a sign of being impressed. This is further strengthened when Raleigh reveals his ability to speak Japanese (which, for an American with no special skills outside a Jaeger, is most definitely impressive). Then there's the infamous peeping scene. Mako sees Raleigh without his shirt and stares. When he sees her staring, she closes her door and continues peeping until he closes his. This is perhaps the biggest piece of proof of the two's relationship being romantic in nature, because there is simply no other way to interpret the scene. If her interest was platonic, the scene would not have been written with Raleigh shirtless. And if Mako didn't like what she saw, she wouldn't have continued looking after being caught. Clearly, she is attracted to Raleigh. It's worth going on a short tangent to consider Stacker Pentecost (because he will pop up again). He adopted Mako after saving her in Tokyo, and raised her ever since. In every way that matters, he is her father, and takes the role of such in the story. The fact that he and Raleigh are the only two people to ever successfully pilot a Jaeger on their own feeds into the cliche of women being attracted to men that remind them of their fathers. Next, there is the sparring scene. The idea of fighting being used as an allegory for sex is nothing new in fiction. Both acts are highly passionate, and well-choreographed fights can resemble dance (which has obvious connections to sex). There are three things that are particularly noteworthy about the sparring scene. The first is that Stacker does not want Mako to be Raleigh's partner. Given that Stacker is Mako's father and her attraction to Raleigh has already been established, his refusal is clearly meant to evoke the imagery of a father who doesn't approve of his daughter's new boyfriend. The second thing to note is that when the sparring does occur, Mako clearly enjoys it. The third thing worth noting is the fact that Stacker brought up the idea of "physical compatibility" as being important to a successful drift. Given that Mako and Raleigh immediately prove to be a perfect match ("You felt that, didn't you? We are drift-compatible"), the implications are obvious. This, naturally, leads into the symbolism of the drift itself. The idea of melding minds as a metaphor for sex (the melding of flesh) is easy for anyone to grasp. But what's also interesting is the precedents set by the other Jaeger teams. All of the Jaeger teams based on family are composed of same gender pairs (or triplets, in the case of the Wei brothers). No mothers and sons or brothers and sisters (even though the story would have been exactly the same had, say, the Wei brothers been two sisters and a brother). Why? Because audiences are less likely to view same-gender relationships as being sexual in nature, which helps to avoid any implications of incest. The only male-female pair we see in the movie besides Raleigh and Mako are the Russians, who happen to be husband and wife. Consider also the fact that given their lack of characterization, the story would have been exactly the same had Cherno Alpha been piloted by two brothers (or two sisters, or a mother and daughter, and so on). Literally the only narrative reason for Cherno Alpha to be piloted by a husband and wife is to establish a precedent for romantic partners as pilots. And there would be no need to establish such a precedent unless it mattered to the story. And since Raleigh and Mako are the only other mixed gender team, the implications are clear. Another (in this case, somewhat minor) piece of evidence for consideration is the scene where Mako accidentally mistakes Raleigh's room for her own. Keep in mind that she has been at the Shatterdome for a long time, certainly far longer that Raleigh has. If he knows where his room is, she should definitely know where hers is. The only reason for her to have made that mistake was to show that their connection was so deep, the line between what was his and what was hers had begun to blur (as it often does in romantic relationships). Then there is the scene where Raleigh is about to knock on Mako's door, but thinks better of it. What a coincidence it was that Mako happened to be looking through the eyehole at just the right moment, and that Stacker happened to be on his way there at the same time! It wasn't a coincidence. The scene was constructed to leave Mako expecting Raleigh to knock on her door, make her excited to see him, and then have it not be him. Watch the smile Mako has as she opens the door, and how quickly it vanishes when she sees that it isn't Raleigh. She's supposed to still be saddened by not being chosen to be Raleigh's co-pilot, and yet she's still thrilled at the prospect of seeing him. It's a trope straight out of any teenage love story. The girl expects her crush to knock on her door (or call her) to ask her on a date, she opens the door (or picks up the phone) with a smile on her face, and it turns out to be anyone but him (often, it ends up being the last person she wants to see at that moment). Let us also not forget that one of the last things Raleigh says to Mako before their first drift together is that she "looks good". Given that there are no secrets in the drift, lying to her just then would be both pointless and bad for the drift. Then comes the drift test itself. And boy is this a big one. Do I really have to explain the symbolism of the plasma cannon charging up when Mako and Raleigh connect? It's all right, you can pretend not to get it, but I know your mind is in the gutter. And in this case, that is exactly where it belongs. And what of Stacker arriving at the end? Well, let us recall that he symbolizes the father who doesn't approve of her daughter's boyfriend. Ever wonder why Tendo had such trouble unplugging Gipsy Danger before Stacker showed up? It was because he is not Mako's father. The entire scene is intended to symbolize a father catching his daughter and her boyfriend "in the act", and "pulling the plug" just before...well, I don't think I even need to say it at this point. Therefore, the story demanded that the plug could only be successfully pulled when Stacker returned and ordered it so. All of these sexual metaphors naturally lead to the question of what comes next. And I think we all know the answer to that. The successful connection of Raleigh and Mako leads to the rebirth of Gipsy Danger. Yet another thing worth bringing up is the conversation Raleigh and Mako have before heading to the breach. "All these years, I've been living in the past, never really thought about the future until now. I never did have good timing." Based on the context, he's clearly talking about Mako and himself. The focus on the future is inconsistent with a sibling interpretation of their relationship, because sibling relationships are timeless. Once established, they do not develop. One does not become someone's brother, and then think about how in the future they could become even more that person's brother. On the other hand, by this point the two have drifted together twice, and as mentioned before, there are no secrets in the drift. Raleigh must know of Mako's attraction to him. Lying in order to give her false hope would be pointless, and if there was a conflict in their desires (one wanting romance and the other wanting family), he would almost certainly have been more specific. The fact that Raleigh chooses to be so vague, therefore, implies that there is no such conflict. And so, it is almost certain that Raleigh is hinting at a romantic relationship for the two of them once the Kaiju have been defeated. It isn't really necessary to point this next thing out, but I would be remiss in my analytical duties if I didn't. There is a long and storied history of the male hero choosing to sacrifice himself for the woman he loves (often after the two have had metaphorical or literal sex). And in the anteverse, Raleigh chooses to put Mako's life before his own by giving her his oxygen (which he needs in order to activate the self-destruct sequence) and ejecting her. There may not have been a big kiss at the end, but given all of the information presented thus far (and in the case of the peeping scene at the very least, there is literally no other explanation), it's very clear that Raleigh and Mako's relationship is intended to be romantic. So why then, was there not a big kiss at the end? Well, one of the wonderful things about Pacific Rim is its capacity for subtlety (not something you would normally expect in a movie about giant robots fighting giant monsters). For those who want a deep setting that explains much but references even more (giving the impression of a world beyond the story), it's all there (the Kaiju Blue, the history of the Jaeger program, the politics, the Kaiju black market, the anteverse, the implied economic struggles, the list goes on). For those who want symbolism and narrative, there are the themes of cooperation, trauma, and isolation. For those who want comedy, there is the Newton Cradle, the conveniently-placed (wrecked) toilet for Gottlieb to puke into, and Herc's line about the Flare guns ("We can either sit here and do nothing, or we can take these flare guns and do something really stupid"). Those of us who are mecha and giant monster geeks can appreciate the references of the white Gipsy Danger helmets (that yellow liquid was obviously LCL) or the winged Otachi's resemblance to King Ghidorah. But there are also people that just came to watch mechs punch monsters in the face (I should know; it's all I was expecting the first time I went to see it). And so, the deeper themes are made subtle enough to not override the action and basic plot, thereby allowing viewers to turn off their brains and ignore them if they so choose. Because let's face it; the fights are, as Newton Geiszler would put it, "pretty cool". Category:Blog posts